May 23, 2021
Miles: 13.7 miles
Steps: 30,088
The hiker that stayed with me last night, Cramps, woke me up around 4:45am as he was getting up to use the bathroom. He had 2 cans of beans last night so I’m surprised that his farting didn’t wake me up earlier.
When I got up it seemed pretty cold. I guess my sleeping bag kept me warm as I didn’t notice it. I check my phone and it said 30 degrees at the nearest town to me. I found it hard to believe it was that cold.
I tried to sleep with my water filter when it gets close to freezing because if the water freezes inside it then it’s ruined. I sleep in a quilt so it might had been exposed to that freezing weather but I’m hoping it stayed close enough to me as I hope it will still filter out all that bad stuff in the water. To be on the safe side I’m buying a new one when I get to Grants, NM in 3.5 days. I think I most of my water sources between here and there are wells and not cow troughs/ponds.
Got on trail by 5:30am and had a 13.7 mile gravel road walk into Pie Town and to the Toaster House. I had about 30 minutes of headlamp before it got light enough. I did have to hike with my jacket and gloves for that first hour.
I basically hiked the whole way with only about a 30 minute break as I rolled into the Toaster House around 9:45am. I dropped my stuff off and went to the only cafe in town that was half a mile away.
I get there and that’s where all the other hikers were hanging out as they had just finished. I ate breakfast with about 7 others. I had the breakfast special for the day which was biscuits and gravy which I finished in now time.
After we finished most of use got a pie to go. I went with a cherry tart. When you are in a town called Pie Town you have to have their pie.
We walked back to the house and just hung out all day chatting with one another. I did spend some time cleaning up all my gear to get it ready to leave tomorrow. I plan to leave as soon as I pick up my mail box from the post office that doesn’t open until 8am so I will get a late start.
We even had the owner of the house show up. She normally travels a lot and is never around. She doesn’t actually live here anymore but her cousin does and he is an interest guy.
One of the hikers made dinner for us, spaghetti with garlic bread. It was pretty good and nice to have a warm meal as the cafe closed at 4pm.
After dinner still just hung outside and traded stories until bedtime.
